Many years ago, at least 5 years before I discovered the MBTI, I took a one-day workshop called "Managing Interpersonal Relationships", offered through my day job.

The workshop used one of the "4-Quadrant Personality Models" as a way to explain and improve team communications (aka "interpersonal relationships") in the workplace. In particular, it focused on the Social Styles model developed by David Merrill & Roger Reid. The Social Styles model theorizes that people operate with four distinct ways of interaction, or social styles: Analytical, Amiable, Driving and Expressive.

(Note: This article was originally posted in my "personal" weblog. I decided to copy it here so that all of my Type-related posts can be found in commentary.)

Yesterday, I attended a workshop entitled "Linking Type and Emotional Intelligence for Effectiveness". The workshop was presented by Roger Pearman for BAAPT (the Bay Area Association for Psychological Type). (Flyer)

In the morning, we learned the basics of Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

"The role of emotions in cognition is pervasive and ubiquitous. Perception and judgement in all its forms are affected by emotional tonalities and reactions.

Psychological type plays an essential role in understanding the emotional triggers for each individual as well as the strategies for self-management."

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but I haven't had the right nudge until now. But today, someone gave me that nudge.

Every now and then, someone blathers about the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) being no better or worse than Astrology.
The articles make for amusing punditry, but they miss an important point.

While Astrology claims to guess your personality and behaviors based on external forces (the position of the stars at the time and location of your birth), the MBTI is based on your actual stated preferences and personality traits. When you take the MBTI "inventory" (it's usually not referred to as a "test", because there are no "right or wrong" answers and no "scoring"), you are self-defining your type.

It's true that, when you finish, you're given a label. And many people balk at the idea of labels. But keep in mind that this is a label that you choose for yourself. It's not a label assigned to you by someone else. If you don't agree with the type the MBTI suggests, you are encouraged to read the other profiles and find the type that matches you best.

Think about that. It's as if Astrology said "Given your birthdate we guess you to be a Pisces, but feel free to look over the descriptions and decide that you're really a Leo."

Here are the comments I posted today to a recent MBTI-bashing essay, entitled Astrology For Businesses. You should probably read it (or at least read the first few paragraphs) before continuing here. Then come back...

How is this different from, say, horoscopes...positing peoples' personalities based on the sign of the zodiac under which they were born?

This is very different. With a horoscope (or phrenology :-), I would take one fact about you and try to extrapolate knowledge of your personality, ideal career, likes and dislikes, or your future, from that one fact.

With MBTI or Keirsey, you describe your own personality, based on many factors. You answer a series of questions, identifying your likes and dislikes, your interests, what sorts of activities energize you and what things leave you cold.
You identify your personality type.